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The Second Revolution. 







A POLITICAL TREATISE 
BY CYNICUS. 




WASHINGTON, D. C 
1867. 




Glass _£.-£>. kla- 
Book -C 99 



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The Second Revolution 



A POLITICAL TREATISE 






BY CYNICUS. 




WASHINGTON, D. C. 
1867. 






ET&U 
■C 






THE SECOND REVOLUT 



At no period, in the history of modern civilization, has 
man been more devoted to expediency, than are the Amer- 
icans of to-day. 

We are emphatically an expedient people. Expediency 
controls our commerce, manipulates our manufactures, 
rules our agriculture; and we had almost said, interprets 
our Bible. Pre-eminently does it govern the nation. 

We choose in expediency, support in expediency, decry 
in expediency, legislate, execute, and in some degree ad- 
judicate, according to the necessities of the occasion. 

As the exception, in a very limited sense, we would not 
be prepared to condemn what has grown to be so univer- 
sal ; but when expediency supercedes principle, there must 
be good ground for alarm. 

Nothing which is based upon truth, can be permanently 
successful, unless it proceed in truth. The moment that 
error enters into its development or progress, that moment 
is there a violation, and the violation, cannot but occasion 
disorder. 



4 THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 

The only great permanencies of which we know, are 
found in nature, and they are "as they were in the be- 
ginning." They are according to the same grand laws, the 
same all-wise truths operating as they were and are without 
change or intermission, save it be that humanity may be- 
lieve in Omnipotence. 

They are the only sufficient examples of which we know, 
of what we call principle. They are the only laws where 
expediency is totally unknown, and just as human wisdom 
can approach them, just so far does it approach the per- 
fect. 

In all of these grand conceptions, we note two cardinal 
qualities ; organism and consistency. They are conspicu- 
ously manifest. The student of nature beholds them in 
all that is Infinite and Omniscient. 

He sees them in the firmament to-day, as they were 
when matter came out of chaos. He sees them in the 
laws of motion, which started a mass of molten earth in 
its diurnal revolutions, unnumbered ages ago. He sees 
them in the change of seasons, as they were when his 
first progenitors gathered the fruits of that primeval Au- 
tumn, on the banks of the scriptural Jordan centuries 
since. 

He sees them in that gravitation, by virtue of which 
fell Adam's and Newton's apple, both alike; changeless, 
fixed, unalterable as truth. 

Especially does he observe them in an immediate sense 
in his physical construction. Here, as in every other in- 
stance, any stepping aside, any violation, brings about 
derangement or dissolution. 

The governing rules of his nature must be observed, or 
suffering will follow. Expediency may suggest a remedy, 
but it will be to no purpose, if the violation be material. 
The principle is unalterable, and not to obey is to perish. 



THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 5 

Let us take the human frame as an example. Physiol- 
ogy has here evolved a technicality, which has become 
pertinent in almost every branch of science, and is an apt 
illustration of the word as used in politics. 

The human constitution may be said to be the figurative 
and real embodiment, of the capacity, functions, powers 
and weakness of the physical individual. 

It is his code of government. It is the principle which 
he must observe. It is the organic law of his being. 

The more excellent this constitution the more complete 
his health. Yet it must be religiously obeyed in every 
detail, if he would live in a healthful condition. 

And so in all, and everything. Wherever there is 
organism, there is constitution — wherever there is omnis- 
cience, there is consistenc} 7 . 

We need only contemplate these facts, instanced so di- 
rectly in our physical frames, to reach the conclusion at 
once, that no operative system can exist in a healthful 
condition, save its constitution be preserved and obeyed. 
In all things animate, in all things having the power 
of volition, in any degree, where there is an organic 
law, it must be observed. 

Conspicuously is this the case in government. Govern- 
ment is a creation having life, volition and functions. It 
is a creation too, wherein the principles which we have 
been dwelling upon, are as definitely marked as they are 
in any other. 

The body corporate must be bound as relentlessly by its 
organic law, as is the physical man, by the laws of his 
creation. If a government disregards the law, that makes 
it what it is, it passes away. A Republic cannot elect a 
King, and yet be a Republic, any more than a man can cut 
oft' a limb, and still enjoy its use. The body corporate 
dies when its organic law no longer obtains. 



6 THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 

Yet we should not fail to remember, that this is only 
true, so far as it relates to constitutional government. 

That absolutism may exist without even organic law, is 
at once apparent. There are manifold instances, where 
the beginning and end of government, is the will of a mon- 
arch. Yet we have reached an epoch in civilization where 
we can safely discard all such, as mere anomalies. 

The political science of to-day, teaches that absolutism 
is anarchy, and teaches too that anarchy can only be avoid- 
ed through constitutionalism. 

There is no government proper, save there be a com- 
plete organism. There can be no violation, permanent 
and direct, of this organism, without the destruction of the 
government it represents. 

That revolution is a practical possibility, no one will 
have the hardihood to deny, in this age of transformations. 
Not only is it a possibility — but every American, who has 
not a false idea of the blessings of a well regulated repub- 
lic, and lost all faith in an illustrious past, accepts it as a 
truth as dear to the world as almost any other. But be is 
at best a superficial thinker, who sees in an ill-defined, un- 
regulated, undigested change — who sees in a tacit viola- 
lion, of a living law — what the right-minded student would 
characterize as revolution. 

That a consummated violation, successfully established 
and maintained, is in the nature of revolution, we cannot 
doubt, but it is revolution without its saving qualities, for 
through the operation of these, the law would be remodel- 
led and not violated. 

The revolution of 1"70 was no violation of law. The 
Continental Conveution that published its inaugural steps, 
declared the independence of the colonic-, and upon that 
issue went to war. It did not declare a violation o{' law, 
but set forth the indignities to which its constituency had 



THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 7 

been subjected aud said we go out from the government 
of Great Britain, and will govern ourselves. We claim 
the right to free this people from any duty arising out of 
British law — we will no longer acknowledge our allegiance 
to any foreign power or potentate. 

We will not impede the execution of British law, by 
failing to observe it; but will make laws of our own for 
ourselves. And the issue was not, as to whether or not 
the laws of Great Britain should be enforced. It was 
whether or not the laws of Great Britain should obtain in 
America at all. It was, Shall there be a violation of law, or 
shall there be a revolution ? 

The sequel was the beginning of a new, or perhaps the 
resuscitation of an old era in politics. 

The embodiment of that revolution, was the produc- 
tion of the Constitution of the United States. The travail 
of eight bloody years had brought it forth ! A nation was 
born, and here were all its functions, its life, its Constitu- 
tion. 

Again did the crowned heads of Europe, ask themselves 
if free government was not a possibility. 

The old doctrines of man's capacity to govern himself, 
were robbed of all their unwarranted eccentricities, and a 
new government, " a great experiment," set in motion, up- 
on principles as it was alleged, which being incorpo- 
rated and set down in its constitution, could not be over- 
reached, could not be set aside, except by that terrible 
agency which had given them life. It was not in the 
nature of things to attempt more. 

Here, said the brave and patriotic statesman of that 
venerated day, are the principles upon which we have 
made a Union ! Here is our contract with the people 1 . 
Here are the pillars that hold up our republic, and are 
themselves its beginning and end. Here is essentially the 



g THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 

purest type of a constitutional government; for in this in- 
strument are incorporated all its principles, powers, and 
rights. Esto 'perpetual 

For three quarters of a century, a consistent and mode- 
rate nation, our government was at once the most clear y 
denned and best in existence. Every advantage that could 
flow from free institutions was ours. 

We shall not pause to dwell upon that happy experience, 
to recapitulate the blessings it carried with it, or to mourn 
that it was of so short duration. Neither will we recount 
the terrible scenes of the rebellion scarcely passed; its les- 
sons and its mistakes. 

We propose to enquire what has become of the Govern- 
ment, that those statesmen of that early republic thought 
to hand down to their posterity. Is it what they designed, 
today? Is it a constitutional government? Is it the 
government of its founders, and more than all is it consist- 
ently, the government of the constitution of the United 

States? . , -j & 

We are fearless in asserting, that it is utterly and defi- 
nitely revolutionized, in all its great essentials, and in its 
most important details. 

I. It is revolutionized in its entire construction and or- 

ganism. 

It is no longer a constitutional government. 

It is no longer a federal government. 

It is no longer a republican government. 

II The principles upon which the colonies inaugurated 
the revolution of 1776, and maintained the revolutionary 
war and upon which the success of the nation was predi- 
cated, are no longer in force within the jurisdiction ot the 
United States. 

III. The United States government has reached that 



THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 9 

condition, which the framera of the constitution most 
dreaded, and which they declared would be its destruction. 
Let the affable untaxed bond-holder as he looks through 
his taxed spectacles, at his taxed morning paper, pause long 
enough to ask himself where he is. Let him ruminate for 
one minute by his tax-paying watch, and consider if there 
are good precedents, for the steps his great government 
is taking. Let him ponder the causes that have made 
and unmade the Egypts, the Ninevebs and the Romes of 
antiquity ! Let him but think, and he will be the first to 
lay the axe to the corner pillar of the citadel, though he 
bury himself in the ruin. 

Let the lethargy be once shaken off; be it through financial 
ruin, unsuccessful war, or any other public unhappiness ; 
and the realization of the awful truths we have stated, will 
become as palpable as did the crown of the Csesars to Re- 
publican Rome, when the Emperor of the Romans crossed 
the little river, that had preserved their imaginary liberties. 
Who that is not blind to the developments of the age, 
and heedless of its too evident tendencies, but realizes that 
there has been consummated a change too marked to be 
disguised. 

It is idle to attempt to cloak so patent a fact. If we 
have proven in our experience that "men are really capa- 
ble of establishing good government, from reflection and 
choice,'" no less have we demonstrated the capacity, and 
uncontrolable tendency of popular government toward 
revolution. 

The Constitution of the United States, and its broadest 
truths, "the organic law of the land," is to-day no more 
the controlling influence in the Government of the United 
States, than it was when George the Third collected his 
taxes in Boston harbor. 

The seeds of revolution are sown, and it will require 
2 



10 THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 

only time, for them to germinate and produce their inevit- 
able fruits. 

The nation is in a transition state, passing down the 
slope which every other republic has travelled, leading 
into centralization, if not despotism of the most malignant 
type. Betrayed by a false conception of great truths ; not 
by an enemy from without, nor by armed treason from with- 
in, but by the sinister bigotry and unholy infidelity of those 
citizens from whom most was to be expected. 

The spirit that was first to pluck down the royal arms of 
Britain, will be the first to truckle to the dictates of the 
crown, for which its intelligence has done so much. 

It will require but a commonplace historian to discover 
whose dagger was the first to [tierce the vitals of the Re- 
public, and the malevolent assassin, will need more than 
his self-adulation, to hide him from the execration of an in- 
dignant, outraged world. 

Let us no longer seek to deceive ourselves! "To hug 
the delusive phantom of hope," when our reason assures 
us, that we trust hope in vain ! 

The execution of Louis XVI and the reign of terror 
looked less probable to France in the middle of the eihg- 
teenth century, than does usurpation and monarchy to 
America a hundred years after. 

The second revolution is effected. It requires but time 
to evince the palpable fact. 

The Government of the United State is totally changed 
in three great particulars: — 

1st. It is no longer a constitutional government. 

2d. It is no longer a federal government. 

3d. It is no longer a republican government. 

These three facta logically lead lo a conviction, that if 
they are true, the government has been revolutionized 



THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 11 

definitely and completely, or in other word?, it is to-day 
in an anarchical state — it is an absolutism. 

Only the sentimental opinionist, the irresponsible blun- 
derer, or the crafty politician, is so wrapped up in the far-off 
past, as to fancy in the light of late developments, that 
there is more than the barest semblance of the old gov- 
ernment left. 

Cruelly vindictive, unconscionably unjust, and unscru- 
pulously inconsistent, under the ruling of the new govern- 
ment and its dispensations, the only land marks left, are 
made to bear the edicts of unconstitutionality. The ma- 
chinery that once was restricted grows into immense pro- 
portions, under the necessities of corruption, profligacy, 
and an inflated state of the finance. 

With inefficient and inexperienced administrators, a 
public standard utterly and hopelessly incorrect — a grow- 
ing taxation, and a decreasing revenue, and worse than 
all, a government metamorphosed, and unstable as anarchy. 
What thinking man is not filled with anxiety for the future ! 
How unhappily does he remember that "revolutions never 
go backward," and how mournfully recognize the ineffable 
and fatal unconcern of the people upon whom the storm is 
so certain to fall. 

The first half a century under the "Federal Constitu- 
tion," as it is repeatedly called by all its early expounders, 
was so nearly an approach to the evident design of its 
framers, that we prefer to ignore it in this discourse. In- 
deed we would trace no steps. 

We assert that the Constitution of 1787 is no longer "the 
supreme law of the hind ;" that the rulings which operated 
in the early days of our republic, are no longer in force; 
that opinions and conflicts have worked a transformation, 
overthrowing the original constructions, by which we lived, 
aud substituting others iu their places; that the spectacles 



12 THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 

through which Salmon P. Chase reads the Constitution of 
the United States, in 1867, differ materially from those 
through which John Jay read the same instrument eighty 
years since; that the former sees many things, which to 
him appear righteous, that would have seemed to the ven- 
erable Jay the sum of all evil, and the embodiment of the 
grossest iniquity. Indeed that Chase's glasses would have 
scarcely suited Jay at all, for their modern construction 
would have shut off even the dimest view of that law, 
which he was the first to interpret and construe, and tor 
which he manifested so marked an affection and respect. 
In short that there is no supreme, no organic law — that 
the United States is not a constitutional government. 

It may be well to ask ourselves, what we mean by a 
constitutional government. We have above intimated the 
signification which seems simplest and most apparent. It 
is a government having a constitution consistently ob- 
served — an organic law which is theoretic 'illy and practi- 
cally "the supreme law of the land," which is the operative 
code, by virtue of which the affairs of the nation are ad- 
ministered. 

So soon as a people or nation lose or destroy its consti- 
tution or organic law, without substituting another, its 
government becomes unconstitutional ; that it is bound by 
no law which may not be violated by its ruler or rulers, 
without a means left to any who are affected, of compelling 
obedience. 

Just what constitutes a loss or destruction of this law, it 
is a difficult matter to determine. It is patent that a vio- 
lation would not be in itself an abnegation ; but it is like- 
wise patent that a continued violation, through which the 
violation becomes the rule, is a theoretical and practical 
destruction, as complete as though the same were wiped 



THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 13 

clause by clause from the statute books, and obliterated 
from the governmental archives forever. 

Every o;reat tenet of the Constitution of the United 
States is to-day a dead letter, although that instrument 
purports to be "the supreme law" it was when it was 
ratified by the thirteen governments that made it. From 
its first clause to its last, — in its legislative, its executive, 
and its judiciary — almost all its cardinal features, are either 
practically dead or so distorted as to be recognized by the 
revolutionist alone. 

Let us particularize. 

The first article of the Constitution relates to and defines, 
the legislative branch of the government. Its whole tenor 
and effect is that the members of this branch, are to be 
chosen by the several States. "No person shall be a rep- 
resentative who shall not when elected be an inhabitant of 
that State in which he shall be chosen." 

"Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned 
among the several States." "The number of representa- 
tives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but 
each State shall have at least one representative." 

"When vacancies happen in the representation from any 
State, the executive authority shall issue writs of election 
to fill such vacancies." 

" The Senate of the United States shall be composed of 
two senators from each State." "No person shall be a 
senator who is not at the time of his election, an inhabi- 
tant of the State for which he shall be chosen." "If va- 
cancies happen during the recess of the Legislature of any 
State, the executive thereof shall make temporary appoint- 
ments." 

" The times, places, and manner of holding elec- 
tions for senators and representatives shall be prescribed 
in each State by the legislature thereof, but the Congress 



14 THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 

may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, 
except as to the choosing of senators." 

The foundation, and indeed the cardinal idea, of the 
article from which we quote, is the existence of a body of 
States, individual, having an unqualified identity, and de- 
pending upon nothing for their existence as such. It is 
here asserted, negatively of course, for to have expressed 
it affirmatively, would have been to have excited question, 
that the States are self-existent. To have provided, " no 
State shall be in any event or under any circumstances de- 
prived of representation," would have left the question of 
such a right, infinitely less certain than it is. It would 
have required under such a provision, but the excitement 
of an ordinary political campaign, to have killed the 
clause by amendment. 

Framed as the Constitution is, it has required the grand- 
est struggle of modern times, to generate the audacity to 
strike the blow, and it is consummated only in revolution. 

The idea embodied in this article, is one of those grand 
fundamental truths, which like the foundations of a great 
edifice, are as apparent to the observer, as the highly 
wrought superstructure they sustain. 

Every clause we have quoted, is a tacit recognition of a 
federal government — a collection of individual States — 
Every sentence virtually says, "there being thirteen or 
more States," such shall he the rule of action. 

Now if such be the case, there are but two ways in which 
a tacit violation, continued and successful could transpire 
without " revolution effected." 

1st. A repeal or amendment of the article itself. 

2d. By virtue of the operations of international or other 
law. 

Of the first <>t' these we need make no mention. The 
article in question is the same in all its bearings, so far as 



THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 15 

the written constitution is concerned, as it was when South 
Carolina and Massachusetts joined hands, and swore eter- 
nal friendship. Here there is no justification of any color 
or form. 

It is only behind the misconceived tenets of the law of 
nations, that there can be found the semblance of a foot- 
bold. Even the acknowledged leader of the revolutionary 
element — at least the active leader — has said that if the 
organic law of the government "is theoretically operative 
in the South, Congress has been guilty of rank usurpa- 
tion." 

By what specious subterfuge any lawyer can escape the 
conviction that it is theoretically operative, the length and 
breadth of the nation, we are at a loss to understand. 

In a constitutional government no other law than 
ITS written constitution .can by any possibility obtain 
within its original limits. "This constitution shall be 
the supreme law of the land,"' must forever exclude the 
doctrine that it is subordinate to the usages of nations, 
within its own jurisdiction. 

The object and aim of a constitution is only this. It is 
to protect, and guard against the exercise of indefinite, 
and unlimited powers. It is to set forth explicitly the 
powers and functions of the government it is presumed to 
control. 

If such is not the case, all political science is a mockery 
and a lie. 

The one great idea of constitutional liberty, is all em- 
bodied in that great and sublime expression "this consti- 
tution shall be the supreme law of the land." No faction, 
no clique, no sect, no foreign power, or potentate, no ex- 
ecutive, legislative, or judiciary department at home — noth- 
ing short of Infinity shall violate this code of our liberties. 

Amend it if you will — enlarge and supply — but violate 



16 THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 

never! So long as our government endures "this consti- 
tution shall be the supreme law of the land." 

Would to Heaven such had been the language that fell 
from the lips of the exponents of the government, as the 
victorious armies of its flag furled their triumphaut ban- 
ners ! 

But alas ! how different ! Lost in the excitement of the 
hour every precedent was forgotten — every principle 
ignored. Revenge superceded reason ; and the govern- 
ment declared itself ready to proceed to any extreme, in a 
brief period, and the first Congress subsequent to the ter- 
mination of hostilities came boldly forth, and proclaimed 
the doctrine of necessity. 

Let us give ourselves no concern about the dead past. 
We must be governed by the requirements of the hour 
alone! We can be hampered by no constitution! Ex- 
pediency shall be our only law, and it shall be supreme. 

It is under such rulings that we find the article above 
alluded to, staring vacantly out of the national charter, pur- 
porting to govern ten States, wherein not one of its provi- 
sions obtain in any degree whatever, and others, where it 
is at most, in imperfect operation. 

What shall we conclude? 

To the nation there appears no necessity of even a 
thought ! The attentive student cannot fail to sec that the 
article is dead. In other words, the national legislature is 
not bound by its constitution. The government is not bound 
by its constitution. The United States is not a consti- 
tutional GOVERNMENT. 

In the executive branch of the government, to accomplish 
a transformation, would be scarcely possible. The struc- 
ture of the department is a condition, from first to last, 
so that any direct encroachment can only be effected in a 
fatal blow at the entire organism. 

Practically, the present incumbent of the office of chief 



THE SECOND REVOLUTION: 17 

magistrate is a mere nominal executive. The operations 
of the laws would be as skilfully manipulated by a child 
who was subservient to the solicitations and advice of its 
official subordinates. 

So far is Mr. Johnson from controlling a general policy, 
that he is without an element of power. lie is bound 
hand and foot. He is no more an authority than is agree- 
able to the whim of an unconstitutional legislature. 

In the judicial branch, however, we again detect the un- 
mistakable evidences of gross unconstitutionality. It is but 
charitable to state that there has been a marked retrogres- 
sion within the last twelve months. It has scarcely been 
an honest casting away of specious expediencies ; it has 
rather been a pause, wherein alarm has been so decided as 
to occasion thought, and thought has in some degree re- 
stored reason. 

The plea of necessity, by virtue of which every despot- 
ism has come into existence, for some years furnished an 
all-sufficient excuse for the organization of unconstitu- 
tional tribunals and courts. 

The conclusion of the war, however, had a tendency to 
alleviate the crying enormities growing out of the working 
of these judicial abortions, and has in some measure righted 
things. 

The great feature of judicial error was in the very gen- 
eral confusion which prevailed, in the manner in which the 
principles of martial law were confounded with those which 
obtain in any and all events. 

So unscrupuously arbitrary did the executive become at 
one period of the late war. that cither through the w< rk- 
ings of military commissions, or without even so much for- 
mality as was required in their operation, all rights of every 
nature, were swept away. Yet, as we have intimated, this 



18 THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 

was so bold an iniquity, that its influence was destined to 
be curtailed upon the decline of the excitements of war. 

It is now our good fortune to be able to chronicle so 
great a change, that the constitutional courts, where the 
revolution is in its incipiency, are in almost full force and 
vigor. 

The condition of ten or more of the States, however, 
witnesses an utter abnegation of the judiciary. It is sim- 
ply annihilated, as is every other constitutional right. The 
States are without it, and no power can restore it to them 
except it be in a future too fortunate to expect. 

It is patent that the revolution of this branch of the gov- 
ernment, as well as the executive, must of necessity be 
comprised in the revolution of the law-making power; for, 
when legislation is unbound, it at once commands what- 
ever it desires, it creates, or destroys — builds up or over- 
throws at pleasure. The right to make law outside of, 
and apart from its constitution, in itself, renders a govern- 
ment unconstitutional. 

From a review of the points upon which we have touched, 
we cannot escape the conviction that the United States is 
not a constitutional government. The fact that the immu- 
nities of the organic law are denied to one State, would 
establish this beyond any question of a doubt, and when 
denied to nearly half the nation, it is overwhelming and 
conclusive to certainty. 

Here arc ten States, in which every right, legislative, ex- 
ecutive, ami judicial,, is dead. Not by amendment of the 
law, by virtue of which they were each enjoyed, for it is 
unchanged ; but through the operation of the laws of war, 
according to which the victor's right exceeds all possible 
responsibilities of any other nature. 

What madness has consumed the intelligence that once 



TIIE SECOND REVOLUTION. 19 

taught our representative men, to at least affect a respect 
for the fundamental ideas of republicanism. 

The doctrine of the conqueror's right is so diametrically 
opposed to the theories of all free government, as to be the 
very ground-work upon which every despot has enlarged 
his borders and influence, and added tribute to tribute, 
upon the conquered peoples he has reduced to subjection. 

What does it mean but the right of the strong to op- 
press the weak? It is the doctrine that might makes right. 
It is the corner-stone of tyranny wherever man is cursed 
by oppression, or goaded by the horrors of unlimited mon- 
archy! No tenet in the " logic of Kings" is more arbi- 
trary ; none so essential to the preservation of a consoli- 
dated government. 

Yet by no other law are the people of ten States of the 
United States governed. The dogma has theoretically and 
actually superceded the organic law of the land That 

WHICH WAS ONCE UTTERLY OPPOSED TO EVERY PRINCIPLE OF 
OUR GOVERNMENT, IS NOW THE RULE OF ACTION WHICH CON- 
TROLS IT. Could any revolution be more complete? Could 
any government be more clearly unconstitutional? 

Its constitution is from first to last as dead as the patriot- 
ism which produced it. 

II. The United States is not a Federal Government. 
There is no one in any degree familiar with the organ- 
ism of our government, who is so vague in his conceptions 
as to fancy that it was not federal, "when the wheels were 
set in motion." 

In the convention that framed the Constitution, it was 
universally conceded and accepted as an unequivocal con- 
dition, upon the report of the committee which determined 
the point. 

A merely cursory examination will satisfy the unpreju- 
diced, that in this great particular a revolution has been 
consummated. 



20 THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 

The annihilation of ten State governments, is the anni- 
hilation at once of the doctrines of a federal union. In 
federalism the component parts arc independent States 
united. It is only when the purest nationalism obtains, 
that they become dependent upon the central power. This 
is the distinction between the two systems. In a federal 
union the States cannot be disturbed in any rights belong- 
in"; to them, by the general government — in a national 
union they may be. That our government is no longer 
federal will be at once apparent. 

To the superficial thinker this may appear but an insig- 
nificant matter, yet we think it a most unhappy step, and 
one which will occasion more embarrassments than can be 
easily described. 

It is the overthrow of all the safeguards of the minority. 
It is the abrogation of the surest prevention against the 
evils of faction. It is, in one terrible word, centralization, 
and centralization is absolutism. 

III. The United States is no longer a republic. 
No more startling expression could be uttered than the 
above. It is however as certain as that free institutions 
and military despotism are incompatible. 

Let us again enter into detail, and ask ourselves what 
is necessary to constitute a consistent and constitutional 
republic. 

We think no one will take exception to the usual signi- 
fication which the word is thought to bear. 

It is a Btate, wherein each citizen having an equal politi- 
cal right, is governed by representatives elected in pursu- 
ance of an organic law, and according thereto. This, we 
think, a fair and comprehensive definition. Without stop- 
ping to enquire whether or not the United States is a con- 
sistent or constitutional republic, we shall he satisfied to 
show that it is a government wherein the recognized laws 



THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 21 

and principles of republicanism do not obtain, except in 
the least important particulars. 

"We need only contemplate tlie aspect of our national 
affairs sufficiently long to sec what they really are, to be 
assured that there are as arbitrary systems in vogue not 
tolerated only, but actually made use of by our govern- 
ment, as can be found/ipon the continent of Europe. 

The fact that some*w«) millions of our citizens arc dis- 
franchised without process of law. and are debarred from 
any participation in the administration of the government, 
through whatever event occasioned, is enough in itself to 
evince that the principles of republicanism are not in force 
within the jurisdiction of our government. 

In an undefined oligarchy, such a state of affairs might 
be brought about, but in times of peace only offer a fair 
and impartial trial can the citizen of a republic be deprived 
of his political rights. 

It is here that a popular, differs from an arbitrary form 
of government'. In the latter a citizen has no security, in 
the enjoyment of any great franchise of a public nature; 
while in the former, so long as there is a consistent ob- 
servance of its fundamental theories, there is no possibility 
by which they can be impaired, save by the operation 
of law. The exercise of any such power, as is required to 
destroy political rights, is not vested in a republic, in any 
legislative or executive authority. It is peculiarity the pro- 
vince of the judiciary, and it alone. It is a right belonging 
to the citizen, as a member of a government of citizens. 
The grandest of all immunities, it cannot be aflected save 
by the same power, that may affect life and liberty. It is 
an inalienable right, which can be reached alone, by the 
means that are set down, as the agencies through which, 
all that is natural or artificial, may be held responsible and 
cut off. 



22 THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 

There are at this moment seven millions of citizens, 
whose political status has never been defined, b}^ court or 
even parliament, and who are deprived of every political 
right. 

What doe3 it mean? Is not this a popular government? 
Is it not a government of the people/or the people? 

Or is it an anomaly, wherein republicanism operating in 
one section, and despotism in another, constitutes the whole 
a free republic? 

Again the legislation, by virtue of which nearly one- 
fourth of the citizens of the United States are governed, 
is iii the fullest sense despotic. 

None of the fundamental ideas of constitutional liberty, 
operate in any degree, under "the bills for the more effi- 
cient government of the rebel States." There are no laws 
save the absolute will of a military ruler. Clothed with 
almost supreme authority, "the district commander's" 
beck, can create or demolish, without hindrance or re- 
straint. He may overthrow at pleasure, all that the past 
has evolved. He may violate every civil law, make and 
unmake courts, public officials, and he may even construct 
the body politic, build up a /State according to his oivn sole 
pleasure. He is an absolute ruler. 

What more striking example of the tyrant can be found 
in history, than the ill-bred, vulgar, and ostentatious 
tetrarch of New Orleans. His crying tyranny has scarcely 
been equalled >iu<-e the days of Roman proscription, and 
is only surpassed in infamy, by the brutality and obscenity 
of the man. 

The intelligence of the faction that countenances this 
manner ol proceeding, is entirely willing to grant, that it 
is not found in any precedent, or by virtue of the consti- 
tution. 

They argue from necessity to expediency, and submer- 



THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 23 

ged in the wildest theories, satisfy any doubts they may 
have, with the presumption that the absolute character of 
their legislation, is to end with the irregularities which it 
is enacted to meet. 

Even were it to terminate to-morrow, the evil effects of 
the terrible precedents, would not be counteracted. 

Henceforth the means by which the States lately in in- 
surrection have been controlled, since the termination of 
hostilities, are lawful precedents, in the administration 
of our government. The doctrines of the reconstruction, acts 
are liiv, and may be carried into effect, at any time in the 
future. That is to say, the general government may make 
or unmake States, whenever it shall deem it necessary; 
may disfranchise without due process of law; may im- 
prison without warrant; may exercise all the powers of 
despotism. 

If it may, then is the United States a government 
wherein the great features of despotism are rules of action. 
A government of despotic tenets, despotic precedents, and 

DESPOTIC LAWS. 

It is almost laughable that there are those who still seek 
to convince themselves that we are a free nation. 

It would be only a waste of time to dwell longer on this 
point. 

The character of the legislation of the 39th and 40th 
Congresses, is totally incompatible with republicanism. In 
spirit, it is violent, relentless and unforgiving. It is the 
embodiment of persecution and malignanty. The enraged 
and irresponsible fanatic, violating every law of humanity 
and fraternity. It is the cruelest tyranny, the most damn- 
ing hypocrisy — the most heartless despotism. 

It is idle to attempt to justify that which carries on its 
face the indcllible marks of crime and weakness, to seek 
to disguise it. 



24 THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 

From these facts we conclude that our government is 
neither constitutional, federal, or republican. 

It is true the semblance of the old system still re- 
mains, and the minor features appear unchanged, but the 
principles upon which they rest are dead, and any moment 
may be the last of even the old formulas. 

§ IL The principles upon which the Colonies inaugurated 
the revolution in 1776, and maintained the revolutionary 
war, and upon which the success of the nation was predi- 
cated, are no longer in force within the jurisdiction of the 
United States. 

When a nation created by conquest, revolution, or in any 
other manner, comes into existence, it proclaims to the 
world its fundamental theories — the tenets and principles 
upon which it is based — "a decent respect to the opinions 
of mankind requiring" that it should declare "the causes 
which impel it to assume its place among the powers of 
Earth." This is peculiarly appropriate when there is a se- 
cession, and the institution of a new form of government 
within the limits of another jurisdiction. 

With this fact before them, the American Colonies pub- 
lished the Declaration of Independence, setting forth 
therein the rights they claimed, and the wrongs they were 
unwilling to endure. This Declaration contained an enu- 
meration of the cardinal doctrines of the government it 
was proposed to create, in the event of the success of the 
colonists. It contained the causes which drove them to 
w-ir— the fruits they were to reap from victory, and its 
great features were the soul of the Federal Constitution. 

In brief, its statements embraced the principles, or in 
Other words, were the doctrines of the Revolution. 

Let us see if they are the doctiines of the government of 
a century later. 

The following will doubtless be recognized, and will be 



THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 25 

observed to be the most characteristic parts of the instru- 
ment that made us a free people. The tyrant is arraigned 
because 

"He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome 
and necessary for the public good." 

" He has forbidden hisgovernors to pass laws of immediate 
and pressing importance, unless suspended in their opera- 
tion, till his assent should be obtained, and, when so sus- 
pended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. 

"He has refused to pass other laws for the accommoda- 
tion of large districts of people, unless those people would 
relinquish the right of representation in the legislature — 
a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. 

" He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for 
opposing with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights 
of the people. 

"He has refused for a long time after such dissolutionSj 
to cause others to be elected ; whereby the legislative 
powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the 
people at large, for their exercise ; the State remaining, 
in the meantime, exposed to all the dangers of invasion 

from without, and convulsions within. 

* * * * 

"He has obstructed the administration of justice, by re- 
fusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. 

"He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the 
tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of 
their salaries. 

"He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent 
hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out 
their substance. 

" He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, 
without the consent of our legislatures. 



26 THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 

"He has affected to render themilitary independent ?f, and 
superior to the civil power. 

"He has combined with others, to subject us to a juris- 
diction, foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged 
by our laws ; giving his assent to their acts of pretended 
legislation : 

" For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us : 

" For protecting them by a mock trial, from punishment for 
any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants 
of these States : 

"For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world: 

" For imposing taxes on us, without our consent : 

"For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by 
jury : 

"For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretend- 
ed offenses : 

" For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neigh- 
boring province, establishing therein an arbitrary govern- 
ment, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once 
an example and fit instrument for introducing the same 
absolute rule into these colonies : 

"For taking aivay our charters, abolishing our most valuable 
laws and altering fundamentally the forms of our govern- 
ments : 

" For suspending our own legislatures and declaring him- 
self invested with power to legislate for us ^in all cases 
whatever. 

" In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned 
for redress in the most humble terms : our repeated peti- 
tions have been answered only by repeated injury. A 
prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may 
define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. 

" Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British 
brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of 



THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 27 

attempts, by their legislature, to extend an unwarrantable 
jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the cir- 
cumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We 
have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity ; 
and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common 
kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would ine- 
vitably interrupt our connection and correspondence 
They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice, and of 
consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the ne- 
cessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them as 
we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace 
friends." 

The above, as before intimated, are the leading features 
of the Declaration of Independence — the grounds upon 
w hich the American Colonies made war. We have here 
the casus belli — the reasons why the Government of Great 
Britain was deemed intolerable ; and a complete recital of 
what was at once the crudest oppression and most uncon- 
scionable tyranny. 

It is apparent at a glance that nothing could be better 
adapted to the present time than the instrument in question. 
It is an exact and unexaggerated rehersal of the indigni- 
ties to which the States lately in rebellion are each of them 
subjected. The declaration of the colonies is as perfect a 
recapitulation of their wrongs as the most punctilious could 
elaborate. 

The South is to-day just where the colonies were in sev- 
enty-six. The outrages which drove their sires into a 
doubtful and desperate war are goading the unhappy South- 
ern people — while the iron heel of power holds them clown. 
The iniquity of George the Third is the rule of action by 
which they are governed. The tyranny of Great Britain 
is the liberality of the United States. Free America in 
1867 is the despotic, exacting, vindictive and heartless 



28 THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 

Britain of 1776. The freest of all free republics is using 
British precedent — legislating British oppression — doing 
for her own free people what Britain thought extreme even 
for her least loyal colonies. In other words, what was ac- 
counted tyranny a century ago, and deprecated and con- 
demned as such on all hands, is now a just, legal, and cor- 
rect procedure — meeting the commendation of people and 
parliament alike. 

The theory of Great Britain in 1776, is the theory of the 
United States to-day. The reasons which made the colo- 
nial resistance sacred, are no longer any good ground for 
complaint. Upon the plea of necessity, "the republic" 
is a defiant despotism, or else the first revolution was 
wholly wrong and unjustifiable. 

We think it unnecessary to point out the similarities of 
the enactments of Great Britain and those of the 39th and 
40th Congresses of the United States. 

The mere perusal of the passages we have quoted will 
answer our purpose. It is not possible for any unprejudi- 
ced man to fail to observe that they are almost identical. 

Let Thaddcus Stephens pronounce that the right of re- 
presentation is a right "inestimable," to the rebel of '67, 
and " dangerous to tyrants only." Let him pronounce that 
it is tyranny to " render the military independent of and su- 
perior to the civil power " — or " to impose taxes ivithcut con- 
sent" — or " to deprive of the rights of trial by jury" — or " to 
take away charters." Let him, in brief, pronounce any of 
the noble truths of that great instrument, which are among 
the charges against King George, and there will go up from 
his faction a cry of rebuke from one end of the North to 
the other. 

•Justly would he be accused of duplicity, for the 
theory is a thing of the past. 

The painted bubble is burst, and to look upon these 



THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 29 

glowing lines is to feel our features tingle with shame, for 
they are hollow, vapid, meaningless flowers of speech. 

But, says some wise pedagogue, the rebel of '67 has been 
guilty of the grossest crime, and it is just that he should 
suffer. 

Is there no law upon your statute books? 

Is not treason distinctly defined, and a proper penalty 
attached to the commission of the iniquity? 

Go to your courts! — but they afford no remedy. 

Then is there but one resort ; and that is revolution. 

The infatuation is complete. 

The rebel of '67 has but to reverse the figures of the 
year and substitutes new names, to stand to-day, where 
stood the framers of the declaration of '76. 

The government of the United States, needs but a few 
score crowns, to place it where George the Third stood, 
when America proclaimed him a rascal and a tyrant. 

§ III. The United States government has reached that 
condition which the framers of its constitution most 
dreaded, and which they declared would be its destruction. 

We cannot disguise the fact that the above proposition 
is one, where the greatest latitude must be given to opin- 
ion. 

Constructions differing in every essential, may be ap- 
plied, by intelligent men, to the same passage. Yet we 
insist that judging either by the letter, or by the general 
character of the efforts of the framers of the constitution, 
our statement is wholly true. 

Let us turn to the debates of the convention. 

The whole of the party representing the interest of the 
smaller States, could not have made itself clearer. It held 
distinctly and unmistakably, that the States could by no 
possibility be destroyed — that they would not enter u union 
where their individuality and identity, were imperilled. 



30 THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 

It was the party holding this idea that framed our govern- 
ment. There was no qualification in their demands. Said 
the second Chief Justice — the cool and patriotic Elsworth — 
"my happiness depends as much on the existence of my 
State government, as a new born infant depends on its 
mother for nourishment." * 

Mr. Bedford of Delaware in the earnestness of his feel- 
ings, was ready to ally himself and State, "with a foreign 
power," if the question was left unsettled. Even James 
Madison, with all his ideas of nationalism, was warmly in 
favor of the same condition. 

In answer to Luther Martin, he thus expressed himself, 
"I mean to preserve the State rights with the same care 
as I would trials by jury." 

Hamilton was equally in favor of the embodiment of 
the doctrine. 

Indeed it was accepted as a part and portion of the or- 
ganic law ; and as its most essential provision. The under- 
standing was definite and unequivocal. So entirely was the 
animus of the constitution comprehended, that members 
of the convention, from the larger States, declined even to 
consider its adoption. They were unwilling to agree to 
the compact at all. It was called unjust, irrational and 
inconsistent. 

But we need not weary our readers, by dwelling upon 
this part of our argument. The writings and speeches of 
almost all the prominent members of the convention of 
1787, afford the most unqualified evidence, that the inde- 
pendent identity of every State, was supposed to be es- 
tablished in the organic law. This fact is accepted on all 
hands; by some extolled, by others deprecated. Yet the 
men who made it, the great majority, aver that it is the 
only safeguard against consolidation. 

When New York was hesitating in the adoption of the 



THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 31 

Constitution, and hesitating because of this very reason, 
Alexander Hamilton, in a speech before the State Conven- 
tion, used this remarkable language : " I insist that it never 
can be the interest or desire of the national legislature 
to destroy the State governments. The blow aimed at the 
members, must give a fatal wound to the head, and the 
destruction of the States must be at once a political suicide.' '' 
Again he said: " The States can neve?' lose their powers till 
the whole people of America are robbed of their liberties. 
These must go together. " 

Hamilton was rightly considered the most finished poli- 
tician of his day. Although a consistent Federalist, he 
was not lost in a single theory. Coming from him, the 
above are especially significant. 

Have we not fixed the precedent which was to be "a po- 
litical suicide?" The principle, that the States maybe de- 
stroyed by the general government, is established, and if 
we may believe the best authority, and countenance the 
most astute judgment, our institutions are imperilled. 

The enactments of Congress are clearly in point. 

True, they are not a general destruction, but the 
embodiment of the doctrine, the establishment of the prin- 
ciple that the central power controls the existence of the 
States, and may destroy, at any moment, as many as it 
shall see fit. There is no limit ! If it can annul ten it 
can annul thirty-seven. The occasion is all that is re- 
quired. 

Livingston, whose judgment and ability, were deemed 
of the highest order at the time of the adoption of the 
Constitution, in a speech in the Senate upon " The Alien 
Bill," referring to the objections to the same, said : "One 
of the most serious has been anticipated, when I described 
the blow it would give to the constitution of our country. 
We should cautiously beware of the first act of violation 



32 THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 

— presently, every vestige of it will be lost and swallowed 
up in the gulf of despotism." 

He further said, in speaking upon the same measure : — 
"If these things are so, and no remedy exists for the evil, 
one ought speedily to be provided ; but even then it must be 
a remedy which is consistent with the constitution, unless an 
express authority can be found, vesting us with the power, be 
the evil ever so great, it can only be remedied by the several 
States" 

The provisions of the bill were to clothe the President 
with authority, to order suspected aliens to depart out of 
the United States. 

Although a measure of minor importance, the principle 
was an innovation of the rights of the States, and was there- 
fore condemned. 

What would have been the warmth of so jealous an advo- 
cate of the constitution, had he lived to see a day when 
the leader of a dominant party, declared that Congress was 
acting outside of, and apart from the same! 

Would he not have felt, that the republicanism of his 
country, was already " swallowed up in the gulf of despot- 
ism?" 

Governeur Morris said in the United States Senate. "If 
we undertake to construe this constitution, to our purposes, 
and say that public opinion is to be our judge, there is an 
end to all constitutions. To what will not this dangerous 

doctrine lead ! * At present, our national compact can 

restrain a State from hostile action. But let that compact 
be destroyed, and each State becomes instantaneously 
vested with absolute sovereignty. * * 

Have, I conjure you, magnanimity — Do not, for God's 
sake, do not suffer pride to plunge us all into the abyss of 
ruin." 

Had Mr. Morris lived in an ai^e when it is counted an 



THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 33 

ignominious weakness, to allude to the constitution, he 
would scarcely be the authority he is. 

It is interesting and entertaining to refresh our memories, 
even if we are satisfied that our fathers were deficient in 
intellect and discretion. 

We might continue quoting the language of our most 
eminent statesmen, to an almost indefinite length. The 
character of the writings and speeches of Madison, Jeffer- 
son, Jay, and many more, are fairly instanced in the pas- 
sages we have cited. 

If our former premises are correct, or if the great exponents 
of Radicalism are to be credited, we have exceeded the 
point, which the framers of the organic law, declared 
would be our downfall. 

Our constitution is gone, the principles of our govern- 
ment are a nullity ; there is nothing left, but human in- 
tegrity, to save us from all the miseries of an anarchical 
state. 

From the facts above set forth, we conclude that the 
United States as a government, is revolutionized. We in- 
sist that it has passed from its original position, to one, 
which is diametrically opposite. 

The old ideas — the old rulings — the old convictions — 
have failed to keep pace with the "progress of the age." 

Revolutions have many times occurred, which did not 
become manifest for years, after their consummation, and 
it is possible that such may be the case with the United 
States. But that there has been a revolution, as marked 
as it is unwise, is, we think, absolutely certain. 

The future will not fail to convince the prejudiced 
mind, of what it will not believe, though it be thoroughly 
convinced. 

Yet we trust, there are those who will give us their 



34 THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 

honest attention. If we succeed in awakening thought, 
our argument will be convincing. 

Finally let us not seek to avoid the issue which is forced 
upon us. 

Our government is revolutionized, and the proposition 
we are called upon to debate, is how we can best labor to 
avert the shock, the revolution must occasion. 

There is but one proper course, and it must recommend 
itself, to every right-minded citizen. 

It lies in a bold, determined and fearless support of that 
party which represents law. 

That the success of such a party, will be consummated 
without the terrors of war, no human wisdom can foretell 
— that it will save the nation is equally uncertain — but 
this fact is clear, it will prevent the dangers of anarchy, 
and will enable the people to pass from republicanism into 
a more absolute state, without violating every principle of 
political science. 

If our government is a failure, let it be destroyed ac- 
cording to law. The constitution, which is the beginning 
and end of the government, provides for its own abroga- 
tion. It may be amended into a nullity. 

But if, on the contrary, our government is founded upon 
a correct theory, the complete success of such a party, will 
be likely to produce results which will be calculated to re- 
establish that, from which we have so madly departed. 

A convention of the States, and the old compact re- 
newed, would place us where we were before it became a 
dead letter. 

But we are not prepared to propose a remedy. Let the 
demagogues who have sought to effect our ruin, suggest a 
solution. Upon their shoulders the odium will forever 
rest. To their uublushing villaiuy, and unscrupulous vio- 



THE SECOND REVOLUTION. 35 

laion of all that was sacred, and honorable in our past, will 
be ascribed whatever we shall suffer in coming times. 

Adding blunder to crime, and folly to infamy, there is 
nothing in the past so destitute of principle, so pitiably 
base, illogical, and wicked. 

By no more barbarous executioner could our institutions 
perish — by no more ungrateful arm could the blow be 
aimed. 

And if it must come,' let it be right speedily; for so 
surely as justice is everlasting, so certainly will the demon 
of the age die as did the terrorism of France, a death of 
ignominy and disgrace. 

But let us not give "way." Let the few who are still 
faithful to the lessons of an heroic ancestry, stand defiant 
to the last. 

Let us at least " unto ourselves be true," and suffer what 
our wisdom assures us will not be suffered in vain. 

If the citadel must fall, let there be found among its 
ruins, one glorious pillar, which our hands have helped to 
rear — that shall stand when all else has passed away. 
Let it be a perfect work, and let us believe that it 
will catch the eye of the patriot in ages to come, who 
shall discover that it is founded on eternal rock, and that 
its solid base bears the inscription which Liberty, Truth, 
and Wisdom have engraven — " Esto perpetual " " Let it 

LAST FOR EVER ! " 



i '12 



